Australian Aborigines

The Australian Aborigines were the earliest-known inhabitants of Australia and today are regarded as the native people of that continent. The term "aborigine," which comes from the Latin words ab origine, means "from the beginning" and can be applied to the native peoples of any region.

It is believed that Australia's first Aborigines migrated from Southeast Asia more than 75,000 years ago. They probably crossed the Indian Ocean and the various seas in between by raft or dugout canoe.

Traditionally the Aborigines were divided into about 500 tribal groups, each with its own language or dialect. Each tribe claimed its own territory and moved from place to place within that area to hunt, fish, and gather food.

Each tribe was an extended family made up of several clans. Clan members lived in family groups of thirty to forty people. Each clan had an emblem called a totem--perhaps an animal or a plant. The totem was honored as a clan member and served as a reminder of the clan's common ancestry. The Aborigines believed that all things--people, animals, plants, and even rocks--were important parts of nature and of the spirit world.

The Aborigines survived by adapting to Australia's often harsh conditions. They were one of the few early peoples to use the lever, as part of a woomera (spear-thrower). They also used several types of boomerangs, flat, curved throwing sticks made of hardwood. One type, the returning boomerang, was used for sport. When thrown properly, this kind spins through the air and returns to the thrower in a perfect arc. The Aborigines also used non-returning boomerang-type weapons for hunting, fighting, and other purposes, but they were not the only early culture to use such a tool. The Aborigines also left a rich heritage of artwork in the form of rock carvings and bark and cave paintings.

In 1788, when the first European settlers came to Australia, there were perhaps more than 300,000 Aborigines living there. As the Europeans spread out, many natives were driven from their lands into remote areas. Many others died from foreign diseases.

Today there are about 265,000 Aboriginal peoples in Australia. About one-third of them are considered full-blooded. The remainder are of mixed Aboriginal-European ancestry.

All together, Aborigines make up only about 1.5 percent of Australia's population. Most live in cities and towns, although a few are trying to preserve some form of the old, nomadic way of life.

The standard of living for most Aborigines lags far behind that of other Australian citizens. In the past few decades, the government has sponsored a number of programs to help the Aborigines compete for jobs and housing opportunities.

In recent years, efforts also have been made on the part of the Aborigines to regain title to their ancestral lands. They have been successful in regaining ownership of some parts of the Northern Territory and of South Australia. Since 1980, these lands have been administered by the Aboriginal Development Commission. In 1992 the Australian High Court ruled that the Aborigines owned Australia before European settlement began, and in 1994 they were given the right to claim land under "native" title.

Carol Perkins
Author, The Sound of Boomerangs

Source: New Book of Knowledge, Grolier Publishing Company, 2003.